Between Shadows and Unwritten Stories

Chapter 1

In a world familiar yet bewildering, Cecilia Worthington had been quietly observing the swirling romances and trials of love around her for thirteen years. She woke one day to the startling realization that her life was not entirely her own, but rather a narrative entwined within the pages of a book. Despite being merely a bystander to the unfolding dramatic tales of the main characters, Cecilia was entirely invested in their journey.
Gideon Blackburn, a charismatic military man with a sharp wit, caught her attention the most. He leaned back, arms crossed, and teased, "What’s the point of merely watching military marriages unfold? You could marry one of them yourself. Like me."
Cecilia rolled her eyes, a smirk playing on her lips. "Marry you? Not a chance. I've seen how you’ve acted through the years—why would I sign up for that?"
Gideon chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that made her heart race. "Oh, come on. You know I've changed," he challenged, his grin both infuriating and endearing.
Amid the laughter and banter, Cecilia couldn’t help but feel her heart softly leaning toward him, an emotion she strived to shove aside. Living a life that was woven into the backdrop of another's story sometimes left her yearning for her own truth. The heartache of loving from the shadows was a weight she carried alone.
Hawthorne Waverly, her closest confidant, often reminded her, "Cecilia, every character has their arc. Just because you’re on the sidelines doesn’t mean your story isn’t just as important. Remember, your choices shape your destiny."
Yet as she watched Gideon and his love interest, the determined and spirited Yvonne Fairchild, slip deeper into each other's arms, Cecilia felt the ache of her silent longing drown under the waves of their romance. She felt like a ghost passing through their passionate scenes, never able to join in or be a part of the happiness that radiated between them.
In the backdrop of London's bustling scenery and the quiet corners of Everhart Manor, Cecilia found herself tucked away, hoping for a glimpse of something genuine. Between the clamor of the Royal Market and the serenity of Grandma Margery’s Cabin, she sought not just to witness the lives of others but to carve out a way for her own happiness—even if it meant stepping into the light after too long in the shadows.
As the days slipped by, and as she continued observing the vibrant lives around her, one question lingered in her heart: could she dare to break away from the sidelines and step boldly into her own narrative?
But for now, she would remain an unseen force in an intricate tapestry, holding onto her hope and dreams, whispering to the universe, waiting for her story to unfold.

Chapter 2

Early in the morning, Cecilia Worthington woke up, packed the new books she received at school yesterday into her backpack, changed into fresh clothes, and tidied her hair before stepping out of her room.
As soon as she walked out, she ran into her stepbrother, Xander Fairchild, who was eighteen and in his senior year of high school. He gave her a brief nod and hurried down the staircase ahead of her. Cecilia took a few steps forward when a little girl emerged from another room. It was Yvonne Fairchild, the same age as Cecilia, both girls attending the eighth grade.
Yvonne was distant and didn’t seem interested in talking to her. Cecilia sensed the coldness but wasn't going to throw herself at her with eagerness. They descended the stairs in silence, and upon reaching the ground floor, they found breakfast waiting in the living room, consisting of a British-style meal of soy milk, fried dough sticks, and tofu pudding.
The long rectangular dining table held a forties-something man in military uniform seated at the head. He was Quentin Fairchild, Cecilia’s stepfather.
As she took a seat next to Yvonne, a woman in her mid-thirties entered from the kitchen wearing a turtleneck sweater, carrying a plastic container with a bright smile. “Sweetener is here! Come on, Xander, Yvonne, Cecilia, if you like it sweet, add as much as you want.”
Xander murmured a thank you, while Yvonne donned a sugary smile. Meanwhile, Cecilia lowered her head and took a sip of her plain soy milk. She preferred it without additives—even if others thought it tasted too beany, she found it delicious.
Unfortunately, her wish for plain soy milk didn't last long. Just as she set her bowl down, a large spoonful of sugar was dumped in. “Cecilia, add some sugar. Soy milk tastes better that way,” her mother, Reginald Everhart, said with a knowing smile.
Cecilia looked up and managed a small, grateful smile. “Thanks, Mom.”
Reginald Everhart was once a young woman sent to the countryside during a turbulent era. After years away, she felt returning to the city was a lost cause and married Cecilia's father, Hawthorne Waverly, instead. A change in policy allowed her to return after Cecilia was born, but when Reginald came back home to visit when Cecilia was five, she never returned to the countryside.
Cecilia spent eight years with her father until his passing. When Reginald received the news, she brought Cecilia to London to start anew.
Finishing her overly sweetened soy milk along with half a dough stick, Quentin finished his meal, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and turned to Yvonne, who was still busy tearing apart her dough sticks and dipping them in her soy milk. “Yvonne, today’s the first day of school. You're in the same class as Cecilia; make sure to look out for her and don’t let anyone bully her.”
Yvonne nodded half-heartedly, her heart rolling her eyes. Why would she need to take care of this girl from the countryside who was older than her?
Satisfied with Yvonne's response, Quentin’s stern demeanor softened a bit as he addressed Cecilia. “Cecilia, don’t be afraid at school. If anyone gives you a hard time, go to your brother Xander. He’ll stand up for you.”
At that, Cecilia instinctively looked at Xander, who gave her a reassuring nod. Turning back to Quentin, she said, “Got it, Uncle.”
Happy with her answer, Quentin stood up to leave as Reginald handed him his hat, accompanying him to the front door. Watching her mother’s gentle manner, Cecilia felt a familiar pang in her heart.
Having lived with two lifetimes of memories, Cecilia had been aware of herself even in the womb. Her hazy recollections of life before five were clear on one point: Reginald had never shown such warmth and concern towards her father.
Damn it, Cecilia thought bitterly as Reginald returned. She needed to go to work soon, having just finished breakfast from her job at a local agency.

Chapter 3

Yvonne Fairchild had polished off her breakfast and called out to Cecilia Worthington, who obediently picked up her backpack and followed behind her. Cecilia couldn’t help it; she still couldn’t remember the way to school.
Xander Fairchild joined them as they stepped outside.
The eighteen-year-old was tall and lean, standing at about six feet, dressed in a blue and white tracksuit that made him look like a slender sapling. Cecilia Worthington glanced at him once and quickly turned her gaze away, feeling as if the world had turned utterly absurd.
Coming back to life was one thing, but being thrust into a story where she had become a second-rate supporting character? That was something else entirely, and it made Cecilia want to scream.
“Yvonne~~~” As they walked a little further down the street, a girl came sprinting towards them, calling out. Dressed in a knee-length, white floral sundress, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and a bright smile on her face, Annabelle Charming was a sight to behold. Yvonne and Xander both beamed at her arrival.
Cecilia shut her eyes and opened them again, bitterness swelling inside her.
Yvonne Fairchild took a few quick steps ahead, catching Annabelle by the wrist. “Annabelle, didn’t I tell you to come over to my house earlier so we could go to school together? Why are you so late?”
Annabelle pouted, casting a subtle glance at Xander, who stood upright with his backpack at his side, then looking back at Cecilia, who stood in front of Xander. Finally, after Yvonne shook her wrist again, Annabelle snapped back to reality, “Oh, I overslept! You won’t believe it—I was so excited about starting school today that I couldn’t sleep a wink last night.”
Yvonne and Annabelle had grown up together, practically inseparable, and were too close to get upset over minor issues like this. Yvonne grumbled in a playful way, and soon the two girls were chattering away, with Xander chiming in every now and then.
Cecilia trailed behind them, walking at a leisurely pace, occasionally marking her path without a single intention of joining in their lively conversation.
After exiting the alleyway by Yvonne’s house, they reached a busy street filled with families. Residents of the complex nearby were primarily military officers, and during this early hour, students were heading off to school and the workforce alike. As students gathered around Xander and his friends, Cecilia found herself pushed to the back. She wasn’t in any rush; she didn’t care how things unfolded.
Feeling out of sorts over the past few days, she had no desire to make new friends.
Yvonne glanced back at her a couple of times, but soon got lost in the chatter with her friends and had no time to check on Cecilia.
Once they reached the school, Cecilia noted that the institution was quite expansive. Across the street was the high school, and diagonally across was the elementary school.
Arriving at the school entrance, Yvonne and Annabelle were already waiting for her. Seeing Cecilia approach, Yvonne frowned, “Why are you so late? Can’t you hurry up?”
“There were too many people; it was really crowded,” Cecilia replied, still trailing in the wake of the crowd after getting off the bus. Given how she was stuck at the back of the line, walking fast was wishful thinking.
Yvonne was about to voice her displeasure further when Annabelle squeezed her wrist. Yvonne shot her a look, huffed, and then headed inside first. Annabelle smiled, shaking her head at Yvonne's impatience before following her in. Cecilia rolled her eyes and tagged along behind them.
Cecilia realized she had been living out a story for days now.
It all started when Reginald Everhart brought Cecilia to Fairchild Hold. Yvonne and Xander weren’t back home yet, so after introducing all three of them, Reginald had asked Cecilia if she wanted to change her last name. Cecilia had thought he was joking.

Chapter 4

Cecilia Worthington felt the weight of her family's legacy heavily upon her shoulders. Her father, Hawthorne Waverly, stood as the sole remaining heir to Waverly Castle. With both of her grandparents having passed, and with her father's life marked by the loss of Reginald Everhart, he had never remarried. Their family line now rested solely on Cecilia, their only child. When Reginald had asked Cecilia to change her last name to sever ties with the Waverly name, she had rejected the idea without a second thought. To her, it felt like an attempt to erase her father's lineage entirely.
The next day, Annabelle Charming came over to Fairchild Hold to play. As Cecilia watched her, along with Yvonne Fairchild and her brother Xander, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she had seen this scene before. The memory nagged at her until it finally surfaced during that night’s bath: they were characters from a novel she once read. Years had dulled the title and finer details of the plot, but she still recalled the characters and their intertwined stories.
Xander Fairchild, the novel’s handsome hero, had joined a military academy at nineteen and risen through the ranks to become a celebrated special forces operator. Annabelle, who had harbored a crush on him since she was twelve, had defied expectations by pursuing a degree in military medicine, determined to be close to him once they were both enlisted. She was kind-hearted and steady, always managing to keep her composure in critical moments, which won her Xander's admiration. After a whirlwind of trials and tribulations, they eventually found their way into each other's arms. In an emotional climax, military doctor Annabelle sustained life-threatening injuries while saving Xander, and the story concluded with her awakening from a coma as he devoted himself to her care, an embodiment of their profound bond.
Yvonne Fairchild, Xander’s sister, had a minor role in the narrative; her life was only sketched briefly in the background after her brother and Annabelle enlisted. However, Cecilia had learned that in the original novel, her own character was annoyingly minor, renamed Felicity Fairchild and serving merely as a background figure without any significant impact on the story.
Cecilia couldn’t help but feel a bittersweet sense of irony. She recalled her life before this strange twist of fate: an orphan growing up in a care home until an earthquake had taken her life at seventeen. She had never been an avid reader—her one true indulgence being the fairy tales and romances her childhood friend adored. While her friend devoured novels of every genre, Cecilia often let the stories slip in one ear and out the other, until one fateful school trip.
Bored on the bus ride, Cecilia had picked up her friend’s romance novel and, distracted, inadvertently blitzed through its 180,000 words in a mere three hours. Before she could process the ending, the earthquake struck, plunging her into this new life inside the story she had scarcely paid attention to.
Faced with the truth of her situation, Cecilia found it difficult to decide whether to be grateful for the book that had unwittingly brought her here or to curse the day she had picked it up. All she could muster was a resigned thought—a fitting MMP, if she ever had to voice it.
As days passed in this unfamiliar world, her feelings mixed with the tension of knowing that she was now part of a narrative that had once merely been a passing fancy. The echoes of the characters, their challenges and triumphs, intertwined with her own reality, leaving Cecilia to navigate a life half-laden with fiction and half carved from the remnants of her past.
What did it mean to step into a story that had once seemed so distant? This question lingered heavily in the air, and as Cecilia continued to observe the lives of Annabelle, Xander, and Yvonne, she realized that her presence could become pivotal in ways she hadn't yet fathomed. Whether she remained a minor character in their tale or became something much more significant lay yet to be uncovered.

Chapter 5

Cecilia Worthington recalled what Headmaster Beckett had said during yesterday's report as she made her way towards the office.
Yesterday, Cecilia learned that The Second Year Fellowship consisted of seven classes, and she was attending alongside Yvonne Fairchild. The Second Year Fellowship belonged to the Honor Class, which typically wouldn’t allow a transfer student like Cecilia in. However, Quentin Fairchild personally spoke to the teachers, making it possible for Cecilia to join.
The head of The Second Year Fellowship was Master Augustin, a man in his forties with a charming London accent. When he saw Cecilia approaching, he smiled and waved, saying, "I've been waiting for you! Let’s get going; morning study is about to start."
Cecilia walked beside him toward The Second Year Fellowship classroom, located on the far west of the second floor, while Master Augustin's office was on the far east of the first floor. As they walked, he asked Cecilia how she was adjusting, and she filled him in with anything she could share.
When they reached the classroom door, her classmates were already chatting, waiting for class to begin. The atmosphere was lively.
Master Augustin cleared his throat at the entrance, and those students who had stepped away from their desks rushed back to their seats. He nodded in satisfaction and walked in, standing at the front of the class. "Come on in, Cecilia! Let's introduce you to everyone," he said warmly. "This is our new student, Cecilia Worthington. Let's give her a round of applause!"
A smattering of applause broke out, with Yvonne Fairchild and Annabelle Charming clapping the loudest. Although Yvonne didn't particularly like her new sister, who she thought was odd and unattractive, they were family, and she felt the need to show some support.
Annabelle Charming, on the other hand, was worried. Lady Dahlia Chenoweth's daughter was incredibly beautiful—though slightly shorter than her—but definitely striking. Her features were more delicate, her legs longer, and her hands slimmer. She couldn't help but wonder if Xander Fairchild would take a liking to her. After all, they weren't even related by blood.
Cecilia wasn’t sure how city kids normally introduced themselves, and she hadn’t even planned on making a formal introduction. A simple “Hi, everyone” felt like enough, which elicited a wave of murmurs; her classmates seemed to think this new student was quite cool.
Master Augustin called up Annabelle Charming's desk mate to have Cecilia sit next to Annabelle. The situation was bittersweet for Cecilia.
Her desk mates were the protagonist and her stepsister, constantly reminding her that she had somehow found herself in a story. It was hard to settle in with that kind of reality weighing on her.
Seating arrangements made, Cecilia embarked on her first day of classes in the bustling city of London.
After the first class, her classmates rushed over to Cecilia's side, curious about her life. Yvonne, not hiding anything, openly declared that Cecilia was her sister, which made everyone look at Cecilia with newfound interest.
Cecilia simply ignored the various looks of curiosity and disdain directed at her.
Finally, lunch rolled around, and Yvonne grabbed Cecilia with one hand and Annabelle with the other, pulling them toward the school cafeteria. They wouldn’t be going home for lunch since no one was around to cook for them anyway.
“Come on! The cafeteria is serving braised chicken wings today. It’s delicious! We have to hurry, or we’ll miss out!” Yvonne exclaimed.
“Yeah, let’s go!” Annabelle chimed in.
With that, Cecilia was nearly forced into a sprint.
As expected from a city school, the cafeteria even provided its own plates and utensils. Cecilia watched Annabelle and Yvonne grab trays from a table near the entrance, then followed them to the longest line, eager to secure their place for lunch.

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